After a while of trudging through the forest and passing through several barriers, we arrived at a destination that flabbergasted me.
“Incredible!” I breathed.
As for why I was so surprised, it was because I doubted I’d be able to see a similar scene anywhere else in the world. It was a glade among the trees, spacious enough that it probably covered an area larger than Hathara. However, rather than rows of houses and buildings, there were only a number of fence-lined enclosures and a decently sized cabin at the far end.
And within the enclosures were monsters of every size, shape, and color—including the lindblum I’d once ridden.
“Calm down, everyone, calm down,” Ingo said soothingly. “No need to get too excited, now. Lorraine’s just as surprised as you, see?”
The monsters crept, walked, and bounded over to us in droves. I recognized slimes, the lindblum, a griffon, a hellhound, and many other monsters whose habitats did not include a forested area like this. A good number of them were of species that had a reputation for ferocity, attacking any humans on sight. Despite that, there was nothing but affection in their eyes as they gathered around Ingo, nudging him with their heads or rubbing against him in an attempt to gain his attention.
It seemed their friendliness wasn’t reserved just for him. Though they were more cautious with me, some still came over and pushed their heads forward as if asking for scratches. They were so cute that I couldn’t help but oblige—the way they rolled on the grass reminded me so much of cats and dogs that I could scarcely believe I was actually surrounded by a pack of monsters.
Ingo chuckled. “What do you think? Incredible, aren’t they?”
It was rare for him to take on such a bragging tone, but I couldn’t fault him for it—if these were all my familiars, I’d want to show off too. Not even the most powerful of kings or the richest of merchants would ever have possessed such a diverse gathering of monsters.
“They are,” I agreed. “I’m still somewhat in shock. I suppose this is a monster...ranch, of some kind?”
“Something like that,” Ingo said. “Though, there are some I’m raising out in the woods, living as wild a life as they can get. Only the ones people wouldn’t blink twice at, though, since the villagers travel through the forest too. It’s unlikely they’d ever run into my familiars, but imagine if they did, and it turned out to be a hellhound or a griffon... What a fuss that would stir up.”
“You’re right. A nasty shock would be the least of it.”
Both hellhounds and griffons were powerful monsters. It was one thing if you encountered them in a dungeon, but if it happened while you were out hunting? It would be a disaster. To make matters worse, this was far from their natural habitat. Any stray encounter brought with it the risk of a panicked villager sending out a request for adventurers or knights to come survey the area.
While that might have been fine if Ingo were a known monster tamer, the number of people in on that secret was small indeed. If a chance griffon encounter caused an unsuspecting villager to ask Ingo to put out a call for adventurers or knights, he’d be in a real bind. That had to be this ranch’s purpose—to prevent such events from happening in the first place.
“Well, I have a bond with all of them, so it’s not like they’d attack the villagers,” Ingo said.
“A chance encounter would be cause enough for a ruckus, though,” I mused. “That explains the barriers we passed through on the way in.”
“Gharb helps me keep those up,” Ingo explained. “Unless you follow the prescribed entry sequence, or you’re an exceptional enough mage to dispel the barriers outright, you won’t be able to get here. The latter would likely be possible for you, though, Lorraine.”
“No, barriers sturdy as those would take a great deal of time to dismantle,” I said. “Regardless, once dispelled, you’d need a catalyst and a considerable amount of time to get them up again. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
I chuckled. “So, as for the reason you’ve brought me here...”
“It’s just as you’ve guessed. We can’t exactly bring your new familiar back to the village, so it can stay here in the meantime.”
“Are you sure it will be all right?” I asked.
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“I’m worried my familiar might fight with yours.”
“Ah. That’s a valid concern. Familiars each have their own temperaments, and get along—or don’t—much like humans do with each other. You can give them strict orders not to fight, but restricting them too much can cause stress.”
“Does that mean...”
“No, it should be fine in this case. Your familiar seems like it will fit right in. Look.”
I looked down and saw my slime approach the fence, extending a part of its gelatinous body to touch the griffon’s foot. The larger monster allowed the contact without showing any particular sign of distaste. A number of the other creatures studied my slime curiously, but it wasn’t so much suspicion in their eyes as simple inquisitiveness.
“I see. I suppose they’ll be fine, then.”
Ingo hummed in agreement before seemingly coming to a realization. “Ah, right. About your slime.”
“Yes?”
“I have a number of slimes here, so it might get mixed up with them. You could distinguish it using your bond, of course, but just calling it ‘slime’ all the time seems rather dull, no?”
“Are you suggesting...?”
“That you name it, yes. I name all of my monsters. If you need a practical reason, it makes triggering Existential Evolution easier too.”
“Really?! That’s fascinating!”
“There are a number of theories as to why, but we can go into them later. So, how about it?”
“I don’t see why not. In that case... Loren. I’ll call it Loren.”
“Oh?” Ingo smiled ruefully. “I’d ask you where that comes from, but, well... I don’t think I need to.”
I felt a twinge of embarrassment...but that was the name I’d stick with.